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  • Ansan City Council Reviews Key Issues with Administration, Emphasizing Citizen Impact
    Ansan City Council Reviews Key Issues with Administration, Emphasizing Citizen Impact The Ansan City Council met on August 11 to discuss a range of key municipal issues, from youth entrepreneurship and public property to large-scale urban projects such as the underground Ansan Line and the development of a Free Economic Zone. According to the council, the Planning and Administration Committee, the Culture and Welfare Committee, and the Urban Environment Committee held discussions with the administration to review the status of major agenda items and ongoing projects ahead of the upcoming 305th extraordinary session. The meetings covered a wide array of topics, from projects closely related to citizens' daily lives to long-term regional development initiatives. Each committee identified potential issues that could arise during project implementation and urged the administration to improve budget efficiency, project effectiveness, and citizen safety. Initially, the Planning and Administration Committee received reports on 39 agenda items from 17 departments, including the Youth Policy Office. Key discussion points included a proposed ordinance for the operation of a self-driving car pilot zone, management plans for public property related to the disposal of sites in Sadong Block 89, the former Marine Science and Technology Institute, and Gojan-dong Block 30, as well as an agreement for the fourth youth entrepreneurship fund. Committee members requested that the youth entrepreneurship fund actively develop ways for investing companies to collaborate with local businesses when utilizing research and development funds, labor costs, and equipment. They also emphasized the need to secure state funding for the traditional market innovation model project and urged the administration to adhere to pre-consultation procedures with the council during project implementation. Regarding the street mall project in Wongok-dong, members insisted it should be pursued in line with its original intent, while for the construction of a complex facility at the former Gyeongsu Elementary School, they highlighted the need to quickly finalize ownership discussions with the education office to eliminate uncertainties about the project, which may require significant local funding for remodeling and operation. The Culture and Welfare Committee reviewed 44 agenda items from 15 departments, including projects related to the third supplementary budget for the maintenance of sports facilities and libraries, as well as agreements for the Ansan Hwajeong English Village, lifelong learning center, and municipal daycare center. In particular, regarding the 'Ansan Winter Light Country 2026' project, they sought clarification on the significantly increased event costs compared to last year and requested safety management measures commensurate with the expected high citizen participation. For the Dongju Salt Field Experience Center revitalization project, members noted the long-term investment and stressed the need to enhance its value as a tourism resource and develop efficient utilization strategies. The Urban Environment Committee received reports on 62 agenda items from 20 departments, including a proposed amendment to the Ansan City Landscape Ordinance, the establishment of a public cargo terminal in Seonbu-dong, maintenance projects for parks and aging facilities, the integrated development of the Ansan Line underground, and the development and investment attraction status of the Free Economic Zone ASV district. Committee members requested detailed updates on the progress and future plans for large-scale projects like the integrated development of the Ansan Line underground, the Free Economic Zone ASV district development, and urban regeneration projects, emphasizing the need for ongoing monitoring of project status and key issues. They also stressed the importance of managing vehicle-related facilities, such as the public cargo terminal and temporary construction equipment parking lot, to prevent unauthorized use or abandonment. Additionally, they highlighted that delays in maintenance projects for parks and roads due to budget shortages could pose safety risks for citizens, urging the administration to identify potential hazards in advance and implement necessary safety measures. The discussions during this meeting were positively received by the local community, as the city council and administration shared key issues and identified problems and improvement directions for projects. However, citizens are more focused on whether the announced projects will lead to efficient budget execution and tangible results in their daily lives rather than just the announcements themselves. In particular, the importance of enhancing satisfaction among beneficiaries of youth support and welfare projects was emphasized, along with the need for continuous management and transparent communication to prevent citizen burdens arising from delays or changes in large-scale development projects. One citizen remarked, "It is more important to have projects that citizens can actually feel have made a difference rather than just an increase in the number of projects initiated by the city. I hope the discussions between the council and the administration lead to visible reflections in budgets and policies." Meanwhile, the city council plans to conduct an in-depth review of the related agenda items discussed in this meeting during the 305th extraordinary session. 2026-08-12 10:16:10
  • Chinese Factories Return Amid High U.S. Tariffs and Rare Earth Dynamics
    Chinese Factories Return Amid High U.S. Tariffs and Rare Earth Dynamics Chinese factories that relocated to Southeast Asia to avoid high U.S. tariffs are now returning to China. Global fast-fashion company SHEIN has established a logistics center in Vietnam covering 15 hectares and encouraged Chinese clothing manufacturers to move their operations there. However, the logistics center's size has been reduced to 6 hectares, and local staffing has been significantly cut. Many clothing companies that had moved to Vietnam are now returning to China. In contrast, SHEIN announced plans to invest over 10 billion yuan in Guangdong Province to build a smart supply chain.Data from global supply chain inspection firm QIMA confirms this trend. In 2025, the demand for factory inspections and supplier audits in China from U.S. clients decreased by 18% compared to the previous year. During the same period, inspection demand in Vietnam rose by 61%, while Cambodia saw a 26% increase. However, QIMA's share of inspections in China, which was 30% last year, climbed to 35% in the second quarter of 2026, marking the highest level in six quarters. Conversely, the share from Southeast Asia has declined.The shift of Chinese manufacturing bases to Southeast Asia began in 2018 when the U.S. imposed high tariffs on China and banned imports of certain items, including solar panels and batteries. However, last year, U.S. President Donald Trump extended high tariffs to Southeast Asian countries, diminishing the tariff advantages of that region. As the tariff gap narrowed, companies recalculated productivity, logistics costs, and component sourcing, leading them to conclude that China was more competitive.Alliance Consumer Group, a U.S. consumer goods company, has shifted a significant portion of its orders back to China this year after sourcing products from Southeast Asia. For instance, the cost of producing flashlights in China was 15% lower than in Thailand. The tariffs for imports from China are about 20%, while those from Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia are around 19%, resulting in only a 1 percentage point difference.China boasts a nearly perfect supply chain for components and materials. Companies can quickly respond to small orders, urgent requests, design changes, and additional production based on this robust supply chain. With the elimination of tariff disparities, China's manufacturing competitiveness is once again shining through.At the heart of the disappearing tariff differences lies China's rare earth strategy. In April of last year, China introduced export controls on rare earths in response to the U.S. tariffs, disrupting the U.S. supply chain. Ultimately, both countries agreed to significantly lower tariffs through trade negotiations. Without the rare earth leverage, it would have been challenging for China to negotiate trade terms on equal footing with the U.S.The overseas relocation of Chinese factories, which began in 2018, has led to reduced employment in China, increased youth unemployment, and a decline in corporate investment. The return of factories could alleviate pressure on the job market and inject new vitality into the economy. The repatriation of factories was influenced by tariff negotiations, with rare earths playing a pivotal role in those discussions.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-08-12 10:16:00
  • Korea Real Estate Agency and HUG Launch Real-Time Confirmation of Lease Dates
    Korea Real Estate Agency and HUG Launch Real-Time Confirmation of Lease Dates The Korea Real Estate Agency and the Housing and Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) are launching a service that allows users to verify confirmed lease dates in real time through the Safe Lease App. This initiative aims to enhance protections against lease fraud and safeguard tenant deposits.On August 12, the Korea Real Estate Agency and HUG announced the implementation of the 'Confirmed Date Information Linkage Project.' This project is part of the government's comprehensive measures to prevent lease fraud introduced in March. The core of the initiative is to provide data from the integrated rental information system, allowing users to easily access housing rental information from various agencies.As a result, the Korea Real Estate Agency will provide real-time confirmed date information to HUG. Tenants will be able to conveniently check the effectiveness of their priority claim rights and the timing of their confirmation through the Safe Lease App.The information provided will include details such as contract duration, deposit amount, and address, based on the items the user agrees to share.Specifically, the Korea Real Estate Agency will supply confirmed date information upon request from tenants using the Safe Lease App, while HUG will verify confirmed date issuance and residency registration information to guide users on when they can secure their priority claim rights.Previously, tenants had to visit administrative offices, such as community centers, to confirm the timing of their confirmed dates and the status of their priority claim rights. With this new linkage, tenants can access relevant information anytime through the Safe Lease App, significantly improving their access to information.Being able to instantly verify confirmed dates and residency registration status before and after lease agreements will make it easier for tenants to assess the protection of their deposits.Choi In-ho, president of HUG, stated, “We will establish an integrated information system that allows tenants to easily check not only confirmed dates but also various rental-related information through the Safe Lease App. We will also actively utilize AI technology to provide the information that citizens need more easily and accurately.”Lee Heon-wook, president of the Korea Real Estate Agency, emphasized, “Real estate is a foundation of life that all citizens should enjoy stably, and ensuring housing stability is a critical challenge. As a data specialist organization, we will do our utmost to create a transparent and safe rental market environment to realize the constitutional value of housing rights.”* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-08-12 10:16:00
  • Jang Jeong-jin Appointed as New Spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance
    Jang Jeong-jin Appointed as New Spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance Jang Jeong-jin has been appointed as the new spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance. Jang, who has extensive experience in public policy and international economic cooperation, has focused primarily on fiscal matters. He graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in political science and entered public service after passing the 39th National Civil Service Examination, becoming the youngest candidate to do so in 1995.Throughout his career at the Ministry of Finance, he has held various positions, including Director of the Medium-Term Fiscal Strategy Division, Director of Fiscal Soundness Management, Director of Feasibility Review, and Director of Fiscal Strategy. He also served as a Minister-Counselor at the Korean Mission to the OECD, gaining experience in international organization-related work.After being promoted to the Director of Public Innovation in 2023, he was appointed as the Director of the Public Policy Bureau in April 2025. He oversees the overall policies related to the operation, innovation, and management evaluation of public institutions, and has recently been recognized for his achievements in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI) utilization and digital transformation within public institutions.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-08-12 10:16:00
  • LG CNS Builds AI Drug Development Platform for Dong-A Socio Group
    LG CNS Builds AI Drug Development Platform for Dong-A Socio Group LG CNS is expanding its pharmaceutical and biotech business by building an artificial intelligence (AI) drug development platform for Dong-A Socio Group. The platform integrates drug research data and connects the process from candidate discovery to validation, broadening the scope of LG CNS's AX business into core research and development areas for pharmaceutical companies.On August 12, LG CNS announced the completion of the AI drug development platform in collaboration with its IT affiliate DAI (Dong-A Information). The platform was developed over approximately six months and supports key research processes using AI, from integrating drug research data to candidate discovery and validation. Notably, it continuously links AI prediction results with actual experimental data, enhancing the AI's predictive performance as research progresses.Drug development typically requires extensive validation of numerous candidate substances, often taking 10 to 15 years and incurring substantial costs. LG CNS aims to quickly identify candidates with a high likelihood of success and predict their efficacy and safety in advance, thereby reducing the duration, costs, and risks associated with drug development.LG CNS has established a seamless process that connects data collection, AI analysis, experimentation, and validation to accelerate the speed and quality of drug development. Additionally, the accumulated research data is designed to be utilized as an asset. Considering the sensitive nature of drug research data, a management system has been implemented to comply with regulatory and security requirements in the pharmaceutical industry.Through this platform, LG CNS has integrated and standardized previously dispersed drug research data, including compound and genomic information, experimental results, academic papers, and patents. Researchers can access necessary data from a single platform and easily utilize AI analysis and prediction features with just a few clicks.The AI platform supports key stages of drug development. In the stage of identifying disease causes, it analyzes and visualizes gene information and tissue location data at the cellular level using AI, assisting researchers in easily discovering therapeutic targets. In the candidate design phase, generative AI directly designs new molecular structures that meet specified conditions. During the validation phase, it simulates the binding potential and action stability between candidates and targets to select promising candidates, conducting virtual validations in a computer environment before actual experiments.The platform is also designed for continuous performance improvement of the AI model. The company explained that by comparing AI prediction results with actual experimental data, it can reflect these comparisons in model retraining, thereby enhancing predictive performance as research data accumulates.LG CNS stated that this initiative is based on its accumulated capabilities in the pharmaceutical and biotech AX sector. Previously, LG CNS participated in the Ministry of Health and Welfare's 'K-AI Drug Development Preclinical and Clinical Model Development Project (R&D)' and developed a service for annual quality assessment reports based on agentic AI for Jungkundang, among other projects in the public and private sectors.Building on its experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors and its 'Agentic Works for BIO' platform, LG CNS is expanding its AX business scope from drug research to production, quality management, and digital healthcare. In January of this year, it partnered with the Cha Bio Group to enter the digital healthcare market, working on a smart big data platform that integrates data from hospitals, pharmaceuticals, and biotech affiliates.Lee Jae-seung, Executive Vice President of LG CNS's Cloud Business Division, stated, “We will contribute to the innovation of AI drug research and development in the domestic pharmaceutical and biotech industry through differentiated AX technologies, including agentic AI, and our specialized capabilities in this field. We will actively support our clients in enhancing their competitiveness in drug development.”* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-08-12 10:12:20
  • Suh Do-ho Exhibition Opens on August 27 with Early Bird Ticket Discounts
    Suh Do-ho Exhibition Opens on August 27 with Early Bird Ticket Discounts The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in Seoul will open the "Suh Do-ho" exhibition on August 27, offering various benefits for fans eagerly awaiting the event, the museum announced on August 12.The exhibition is a large-scale solo show by renowned installation artist Suh Do-ho, showcasing a comprehensive view of his work from early pieces created during his student years to his iconic works and ongoing projects.Early bird ticket sales for the exhibition will begin on August 17 at 6 PM. Tickets will be available through the MMCA website, as well as on Naver and Ticketlink, to ensure accessibility for many visitors.The early bird ticket price is discounted by 20%, bringing the cost for adults down to 6,400 won from the regular price of 8,000 won. Reservations can be made for visits from the opening day until September 13. Early bird sales will continue until August 26, the day before the exhibition opens, after which general ticket sales will commence. To create a comfortable viewing environment, the exhibition will operate on an hourly reservation system.During the early bird sales period from August 17 to 26, the MMCA will also host a "Suh Do-ho Exhibition Anticipation Event" on its official Instagram account. Participants can leave comments expressing their excitement for the exhibition, and 30 winners will be selected to receive free admission tickets.Additionally, starting with the "Suh Do-ho" exhibition, the MMCA will offer a 10% discount for visitors who purchase tickets online through its website. Online ticket holders can reduce wait times at the information desk for paper tickets and enjoy a faster and more convenient entry with mobile QR tickets.Kim Sung-hee, director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, stated, "Through this large-scale solo exhibition of Suh Do-ho, we hope to widely promote the status of contemporary Korean art and provide an opportunity for domestic and international visitors to deeply discover and expand the artist's world. We aim to create a better viewing environment through various systems such as online pre-booking, hourly reservations, and mobile QR tickets, while also fostering a sustainable museum culture."Earlier this year, during a press conference, Director Kim expressed his anticipation for the "Suh Do-ho" exhibition. When asked to predict the attendance for the exhibition, he responded, "Can we expect it to exceed 500,000 visitors? I believe that Suh Do-ho, as a domestic artist, will surpass that. In September, a significant number of art enthusiasts will be moving, making it possible to achieve that attendance figure."* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-08-12 10:12:10
  • KT Reports Decrease in Q2 Earnings Following Hacking Incident
    KT Reports Decrease in Q2 Earnings Following Hacking Incident KT reported a decline in both revenue and operating profit for the second quarter of 2026, influenced by a base effect from last year's real estate sales profits.On August 12, KT announced that its consolidated revenue for Q2 2026 was 6.6799 trillion won, with an operating profit of 648.3 billion won, marking decreases of 10.1% and 36.1%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. The net profit for the quarter was 480.6 billion won, down 34.5% year-on-year. A KT official explained, "The decrease in net profit was affected by penalties related to personal data breaches."On a separate basis, revenue was 4.5235 trillion won, a 5.2% decline from the previous year, while operating profit fell 17% to 389 billion won.The official noted, "The decrease in operating profit compared to last year was due to a one-time effect from real estate sales profits, but we saw an increase compared to the first quarter, thanks to growth in data centers, real estate, and improved performance from our content subsidiaries."In the wireless sector, Q2 revenue was 1.7497 trillion won, down 1.8% from the same period last year, impacted by customer churn during the customer reward program and waiver period that continued until last month.Revenue from the wired business was 1.3148 trillion won, a 1.5% decrease year-on-year. Specifically, the internet segment saw a 1.1% increase in revenue to 638 billion won, driven by growth in GiGA internet subscribers and expanded value-added services. However, the media segment reported a 0.5% decline to 524.5 billion won, despite an increase in IPTV subscribers, due to reduced advertising and pay-per-view revenue.Revenue from the enterprise services segment fell 2.3% to 901.1 billion won compared to the previous year.Among its subsidiaries, KT Estate, the real estate arm, showed significant growth, with revenue rising 80.1% year-on-year to 288.9 billion won, driven by growth in the hotel business and recognition of sales from the Daejeon Dunsan project.KT Cloud, a key player in the artificial intelligence data center (AIDC) business, also reported a 19.8% increase in revenue to 265.4 billion won, supported by higher operational rates at its Gasan data center and expansion in design, build, and operate (DBO) projects.The content subsidiaries continued to improve their performance, benefiting from a recovery in advertising and growth in content business. KT Nasmedia saw improved results due to balanced growth in digital outdoor advertising and mobile platform ads. KT Studio Genie expanded its partnerships in online video services (OTT) and diversified content distribution based on premium original content. KT Millie's Library continued its focus on the e-book subscription business.K Bank maintained a solid performance, supported by growth in loan assets and improved net interest margins. As of June 30, 2026, the bank's deposit balance was 26.6 trillion won, and its loan balance was 19.8 trillion won, with a total customer base of 16.45 million. In the second half of the year, K Bank plans to enhance profitability through expanded loans for small business owners and improved margins.KT aims to accelerate its transition to an 'AX Platform Company,' targeting a return on equity (ROE) of 9-10% by 2028. The company plans to double AX revenue by 2028 compared to 2025, establishing itself as a hub for AX in Asia. To achieve this, KT intends to secure an additional 1GW of AIDC capacity and 90Tbps of submarine cable capacity by 2031.To improve profitability, KT will expand the rationalization of low-profit businesses and enhance operational efficiency through AX internalization. The company also plans to accelerate the monetization of non-core assets, including idle real estate and investment assets.KT Chief Financial Officer Min Hye-byeong stated, "In the second half of the year, we will continue to focus on growth centered around our core portfolio while enhancing customer data protection and security capabilities to build customer trust and enhance corporate value." 2026-08-12 10:12:00
  • KAIST develops AI to detect foreign-linked online commenters
    KAIST develops AI to detect foreign-linked online commenters SEOUL, August 12 (AJP) - Software built to catch foreign influence campaigns online has long had the same blind spot. It can tell a platform which accounts look suspicious, but not why. A research team in South Korea says it has closed that gap with an artificial intelligence system that points to the exact words behind every judgment it makes, so a person can check the machine's reasoning instead of taking it on faith. Run across nearly two decades of comments on Naver News, the news service of South Korea's largest web portal, the system flagged 23,998 accounts whose writing and behavior matched patterns of foreign-linked influence activity. What those accounts posted was not praise for any foreign country. It was moral condemnation of South Korea and of South Korean politicians. KAIST announced the results Wednesday. The work was carried out with Germany's Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy and will be presented August 13 at USENIX Security Symposium 2026, one of the leading conferences in computer security. Organized efforts to spread comments or posts in order to shift how the public sees an issue are known as online influence operations. They are cheap to run and reach large audiences, and they tend to intensify around elections and diplomatic disputes, when attention is high and trust is fragile. Earlier detection tools mostly sorted accounts and posts into suspicious or normal. That left platforms with a verdict they could neither review nor explain to the user on the receiving end of it. The team started from 70 accounts that the Institute for National Security Strategy had already reported as foreign-linked. From those, it traced outward to users connected through Naver's follow feature and to users who had commented on the same articles, building a pool of 112,658,554 comments written by 4,047,831 users between April 2006 and March 2025. That is more than two comments for every person living in South Korea. The AI reads each comment in three steps. First it looks for signs that the writer may be connected to a foreign country, drawing on the region the comment was written from, which Naver displays, along with the username and phrasing that reads as non-native. Then it checks whether the comment carries moral emotion, either condemnation expressed through anger, contempt and disgust, or admiration and praise. Finally it works out where that emotion is aimed, at South Korea, at a rival state, at a major neighboring state, or at a country friendly to it. At each step the model marks the stretch of text that led it to its answer, whether in the comment itself, the username, the writing region or the headline of the article. That is what makes it explainable, in the sense that a reviewer can look at the highlighted words and disagree. Reading 112 million comments with a large model would have been prohibitively expensive, so the team used a technique called knowledge distillation, in which a large model teaches a much smaller one to make the same calls at a fraction of the cost. The account-level judgment combined those content signals with plain behavioral ones, including how many comments a user wrote, how long the account stayed active, how often it repeated itself, how other users reacted, and whether it was connected to the accounts already known. Of the roughly four million users in the pool, 23,998 came out consistent with the known accounts on all three fronts. KAIST said the model was checked against comments people had labeled by hand and against comments deliberately reworded, and that the flagged accounts clustered in time with the known accounts more closely than ordinary users did. The team was explicit about what the result is not. Identification does not amount to a finding that any of these accounts is actually operated by a foreign government or agency. KAIST also stressed that the technology should be used as an explainable content management tool supporting expert review rather than as a system that blocks or penalizes accounts on its own. The strategy findings are where the numbers get uncomfortable. Naver ranks comments by like ratio, meaning likes divided by likes plus dislikes, so a comment above 0.5 has drawn more approval than objection and rises toward the top of the thread. Comments condemning South Korea averaged 0.514, the only strategy examined that cleared that line. Praise for a foreign country did not come close. Among the condemning comments that drew the strongest response, seven of the top 10 targets were domestic politicians, including presidents and major party leaders, drawn from both the liberal and conservative camps. KAIST said that pattern fits a strategy of widening distrust in politics generally and deepening conflict between the two sides, rather than backing either one. Oh Hye-yeon said the system analyzed not only the surface meaning of comments but the emotions that drive conflict and the organized behavior of the accounts behind them, adding that she expects it to be used against influence activity that keeps growing more subtle. Cha Mee-young, a KAIST professor who also holds a directorship at the German institute, called the study a case of actionable data science, work that connects data science to solving a real social problem, and said she hoped it would become a practical tool for raising transparency and trust in the digital public square. The timing data points to when that work matters most. During presidential, parliamentary and local election periods, an average of 34.19 suspected accounts began posting each week, compared with 22.61 outside those windows, about 51 percent more. Lee Won-jae said the findings offer "a standard for sorting out which messages should be examined first at times when social conflict runs high, such as elections." 2026-08-12 10:09:00
  • Colombia Halts Coffee Exports Following Major Earthquake; Arabica Prices Surge
    Colombia Halts Coffee Exports Following Major Earthquake; Arabica Prices Surge Colombia, the world's third-largest coffee exporter, has effectively halted coffee exports following a magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck on August 10, according to a report by Bloomberg on August 11. As a result, the price of Arabica coffee, which Colombia primarily exports, has surged to its highest level in five weeks.The earthquake has blocked several sections of the Cali-Buenaventura highway, a key route to Colombia's Pacific coast. Access to Buenaventura, the port city where Colombia's main coffee export terminal is located, is now virtually impossible.Currently, operations related to coffee exports at Buenaventura port are suspended or limited as damage assessments are underway. While other ports, such as Cartagena and Santa Marta, have not reported significant damage, a shortage of available trucks is complicating the transport of coffee to these locations.Gustavo Gómez, president of the Colombian Coffee Exporters Association (Asoexport), stated, "Coffee export operations have been halted. Some areas may be operating under restrictions, but for now, coffee export activities are suspended." He added, "There has been no official announcement regarding when the roads will fully reopen."Additionally, coffee processing facilities have also sustained damage due to the earthquake, further complicating export efforts. Gómez noted, "So far, there have been no reports of serious structural damage to coffee processing plants, but power outages, communication disruptions, and the impact on employees who have lost their homes are causing operational delays. This will ultimately lead to delays in coffee shipments, and even when the situation normalizes and operations resume, it will put pressure on the coffee supply chain."In response to these developments, Arabica coffee futures for September rose 1.04% to $334.75 on the New York ICE futures exchange, marking a five-week high.The earthquake, which occurred on August 10, is the largest to hit Colombia in the 21st century, with the mountainous region of Risaralda, home to many major coffee-producing areas, suffering the most casualties. As of now, 254 fatalities have been reported, including 101 in Pereira, a key coffee production center, according to Reuters.Meanwhile, President Abelardo de la Espriella, who took office on August 7, declared a national emergency on August 10 and is focusing efforts on rescue and recovery operations.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-08-12 10:08:00
  • Hanwha Construction to Enhance Energy Efficiency in AI Data Centers
    Hanwha Construction to Enhance Energy Efficiency in AI Data Centers Hanwha Construction is set to secure energy-saving technologies for AI data centers. Building on its experience in data center design and construction, the company aims to expand its business into power operation and cooling technologies.On August 12, Hanwha Construction announced that it has been selected as a project contractor for a national research initiative on energy efficiency, led by the Ministry of Climate, Energy, and Environment and the Korea Energy Technology Evaluation Institute.The project consists of three areas: demand resource management for data centers, the development of high-efficiency modular uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and direct liquid cooling technology for high-density AI data centers. Hanwha Construction will be responsible for on-site application and verification.The research initiative will be conducted in a consortium format involving Hanwha Construction, Ion, Hanyang University, and the Korea Electronics Technology Institute. The total scale of the three projects is approximately 43.8 billion won.Demand resource management for data centers involves using AI to predict server power consumption and cooling loads to enhance energy efficiency. Hanwha Construction aims to reduce peak energy usage by more than 10% by reviewing power systems, equipment configurations, and operational conditions.The company will also conduct a demonstration of its self-developed ceiling-mounted electric vehicle charging system, 'EV Air Station,' utilizing vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. This method supplies power from electric vehicle batteries to the power grid, exploring future possibilities for power supply using charging infrastructure.The high-efficiency modular UPS development project focuses on enhancing stable power supply and operational efficiency for data centers. The goal is to increase the current power conversion efficiency from about 90% to a maximum of 97.5%.Direct liquid cooling technology represents a next-generation cooling method that removes heat by directly contacting a liquid with the heat source. The aim is to reduce cooling power energy consumption by more than 90% compared to traditional air cooling methods.As demand for AI data centers grows, construction companies' competitiveness is likely to extend beyond mere construction capabilities to include integrated design for power, cooling, and operational efficiency.Hanwha Construction is currently involved in 13 data center projects, including the hyper-scale Changwon Defense AI Data Center, which can accommodate over 100,000 servers, and the Ansan Kakao Data Center.Kim Min-seok, head of Hanwha Construction's Architectural Division, stated, “This national project will serve as an opportunity to expand our data center business from design and construction into the energy sector and accelerate the introduction of bidirectional charging technology using ceiling-mounted electric vehicle chargers.”* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-08-12 10:04:10